Self-organized chain of crystalline-silicon nanospheres

Abstract
We have fabricated a self-organized chain of crystalline-silicon nanospheres via an extension of the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. Transmission electron microscopy, electron energy-loss spectroscopy, and electron-induced x-ray fluorescence analyses have proved that the crystalline silicon nanospheres, of about 10 nm in diameter and at a nearly equal spacing, are supported in amorphous silica and carbon. The novel self-organized phenomenon is attributed to the periodic instability of catalysts and spontaneous oxidization during the growth of nanowhiskers.